Business, Financial & Legal Posts - Page 4

Prince is only a fan of Jay-Z's Tidal music streaming, as his representatives have asked for his music to be removed from Spotify, Apple Music, and Rdio. It looks like Prince is trying to negotiate new rates for songs played, and streaming services will have to agree before they have access to his music again.

"Prince's publisher has asked all streaming services to remove his catalog," a notification on Prince's Spotify page reads. "We have cooperated with the request, and hope to bring his music back as soon as possible."

The official Prince music channel only has "Breakfast Can Wait" listed, as his team also has been quick to use Web Sheriff to remove music online. Prince has been vocal about artist compensation in regards to music streaming - and is the latest artist to speak out against services offering free listening tiers.

PayPal has just announced that it is acquiring Xoom, a San Francisco-based digital money transfer startup for a huge $890 million.

Xoom has transferred over $7 billion for its 1.3 million customers, and that's just over the last 12 months. Most of this business was done over mobile devices, and between friends and family, so you can see why PayPal would be interested in acquiring a company like Xoom. PayPal wants to see Xoom expand into other markets, with Mexico, India, the Philippines, China and Brazil.

Sony has already said that it wants to lead the smartphone camera sensor market, with the Japanese giant pulling out of most of its other markets, apart from camera sensors and the PlayStation brand.

Now the company is looking to push out new shares, with the new shares to raise the equivalent to 10% of what Sony is worth. With Sony worth around $40 billion, the company will be raising $4 billion, all of which it's going to invest in camera sensors. Sony said in a statement: "In addition to securing funds for active and concentrated investment in businesses that are driving growth. Sony ... aims to secure its ability to make future further investment".

Chief Portfolio Manager Common Assset Management, Takatoshi Itoshima, said: "It's positive that it is investing in the sensor business which is seen promising. But short-term investors may question the strength of its balance sheet, or wonder whether the company could've slashed more of its businesses before raising money from the market".

Spotify offers a free membership and $9.99 per month subscription to its popular music service, but the No. 1 streaming service is effectively cannibalizing the industry, according to Rdio CEO Anthony Bay.

"The idea that giving it away for free leads more people to buy is flawed. You will convert a large number of people who would normally pay for something to the free service," Bay recently told CNBC.

Rdio has a free offer to stream radio stations, $3.99 stripped down tier, and $9.99 per month unlimited version as it offers radio and streaming stations. Unlike Spotify, music listeners don't control the music they listen to - but can purchase songs if they like it. However, Spotify is willing to be patient and wait for free users to upgrade to the paid subscription:

The public launch of Apple Music is just hours away, and it looks like Apple will once again carry the entire weight of the music industry. Years ago, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) received help from iTunes at a time when music listeners were fully embracing illegal file sharing - and it seems like it could be up to Apple once again.

There is a new fight, one which the RIAA is struggling with, as more music listeners turn to online streaming services while listening to music. Millions of people use legal services such as Pandora, Spotify, Google Play Music, but don't pay.

After a free three-month trial period, users will be forced to pay $9.99 per month for Apple Music - or find a different service.

We're only a couple of weeks into the Radeon R9 Fury X being on the market, but buyout rumors continue to flow onto the Internet, with Microsoft now reportedly interested in acquiring AMD.

KitGuru is reporting from their sources that Microsoft is interested in acquiring AMD, which would make sense. But, remember that Microsoft has a very tight relationship with Intel when it comes to their products and Windows. Microsoft also maintains a very close relationship with AMD, as their Xbox One is powered by an APU made by AMD.

Microsoft has a huge $95.3 billion in cash, so it wouldn't take much to buy AMD at their market cap of $1.81 billion right now. If you consider the current value of AMD right now, it is three times less than what AMD paid for ATI Technologies back in 2008. With analysts estimating that Microsoft pays around $100 per APU to AMD for its Xbox One, Microsoft has already shelled out $1.26 billion or so to AMD with its 12.6 million Xbox One units sold.

Apple Music hasn't even launched yet, but has caused quite a stir in the streaming music market and among musicians. For Taylor Swift fans, however, here is a bit of good news: her "1989" album will be available on Apple Music.

Swift decided to pull her album from the service, before it even launched, in what she described as a fight to support indie musicians. Apple reversed course and said it would pay musicians during the free three-month trial period that users can sign up for - and that was enough for Taylor Swift.

Swift offered the following comments via Twitter:

After the events of this week, I've decided to put 1989 on Apple Music...and happily so.

The ongoing drama involving Apple Music, which has been pitted as Taylor Swift vs. Apple Music, has given other musicians the chance to speak out. Apple Music launches on June 30, and there is a bit of drama and chaos regarding the music service already, so the streaming music market could be even more exciting.

"Apple is making the same mistake Tidal made," Corgan recently said while speaking with Squawk Alley." "I applaud her for taking a stand, but this is going to be played out by the media as 'Taylor versus Apple,' and that's not the real story."

Corgan noted that Apple's attention to just the top-tier artists is a mistake, and could make things rather interesting moving forward:

Google today launched a free, ad-supported version of its Google Play Music service, in an effort to steal a bit of publicity ahead of the Apple Music launch next week. Google Play Music has been around for a couple of years with a $9.99 per month subscription, allowing music listeners to create their own custom playlists.

The new public offering won't be available offline and will not have access to some songs - and is a marketing effort to recruit new members. Although many users visit Google Play Music, they don't stick around due to the monthly subscription costs.

"We want to attract even more users, give them a taste of the service and hope they subscribe over time," said Zahavah Levine, VP of partnerships at Google Play, in a statement published by USA Today. It seems like offering a free trial - whether ad-supported or a set amount of free testing - is the ideal way to lure in new listeners.

Apple moved fast to win over Taylor Swift and musicians, when the company announced it would pay artists while users are enjoying a three-month free trial of Apple Music. Tom Conrad, former CTO and EVP of Product at Pandora, recently took to Twitter to discuss the current drama between Apple and Swift.

Apple Music launches on June 30 and will charge $9.99 per month to subscribers, but is offering a three-month free trial. Swift said she would not allow her "1989" album to be available on the service, in an effort to make a stand for rising indie artists - saying it's not fair they wouldn't be paid by Apple.

"Spotify, YouTube, Pandora and others all pay artists for their free tiers and trials," Conrad said via Twitter. "It's the right thing to do. Swift took her new album off Spotify not because she's not paid, but because she feels their free service 'devalues music.' Swift never pulled from YouTube which is the most popular free service and certainly devalues music if Spotify does."